exist
verb (used without object)
to have actual being; be.
had been existing
-
past perfect progressiveof exist.past perfect progressive
Used to describe an action that was ongoing continuously in the past up until another past event interrupted it.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Police did not offer information on whether there had been existing investigations into those cases.
From BBC ● Apr. 6, 2023
These extraordinary gifts came just in time, Zollar says, because her company had been existing “hand to mouth.”
From Washington Post ● Oct. 11, 2021
And Herman Weckler, up-from-the-ranks vice president & general manager of Chrysler & De Soto Corp., testified that labor espionage had been existing for years.
From Time Magazine Archive
For months past--in fact ever since the child was born--she had been existing without sufficient food.
From The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists by Robert Tressell
If they had been existing on the burned-out desolate moon they could hardly have been in a harsher, grimmer, lonelier spot than this red-walled arroyo.
From Desert Gold by Zane Grey
